I'd sort of qualify as one of those "new" collectors.
I've only collected a handful of autographs, most of them in person.
So far I haven't spent much on any of them.
And I've relied more on the overall item for the ones I bought. If the autographs aren't good, then I'm still not out much. (Like the photo is still worth what I paid, or I can still use the baseball - Like I said I'm way on the low end.)
I look for old items, ones that aren't typical autograph items. And the rest is the situation.
Frank Navin - On a postcard sized photo of Fenway Park. At about the right price for the photo and "signed by some front office guy"
Bob Cousy - On a somewhat beat black and white 8x10 showing him in some sports club jacket. Very faded signature $3 at a local mall show.
Happy Rockefeller- Nelsons wife, On a postcard mailed to a friend while on their honeymoon. From a stamp dealers dollar box. I saw the message mentioning "rocky" and signed "happy" and took a chance on it.
I'm pretty confident in those. The items are right, the way they were sold wasn't exactly pushing the autograph, and in two cases -Navin and Rockefeller a small bit of research made it more likely. The Navin is dated 1934 and the photo pictures a boston v detroit game from 34. The Rockefeller postcard is from the place and within the time of their honeymoon, and sent to someone known to be a friend of hers. I haven't looked much at the Cousy yet.
On the other hand I had a handful of HOF autographs on 3x5 cards. Bought at a card club auction pretty affordably. After having them a few years I realised they just weren't interesting to me, and I'd come to feel less comfortable about the source even though they were all pretty comon. I consigned them to a local auction, and asked if they thought they were good. They thought so, so off they went. I don't miss them at all.
I've also been ofered a few items that would be pretty nice over the last 5years. All with certs, all of the certs shaky at best, and all items ripe for faking. (500 hr litho, another litho, stuff like that) I passed on all of them since I don't really know enough to tell and feel confident in my opinion.
So for new collectors I'd agree with the starting slow and with inexpensive stuff. The mistakes won't be financially painful, and the knowledge will really help later.
On expensive stuff I think as a collector I'd want to learn enough to make my own decision treating the item as if it had no certificate from anyone. But I'd also lean towards tempering that with the presence of a certificate "good" or "bad" or lack of one. Personally I would and have passed on stuff with very shaky certs. And maybe lean a bit towards ones with what for lack of a better term -Better certs.
Problem is that so many people don't want to learn, they just want to own. And own NOW! So there's a lot of room for third parties to offer opinions. It helps dealers sell stuff and opens the hobby to people who wouldn't learn or risk anything without someone elses opinion. Of course it also allows the fraudulent or incompetent to make their profits too. And with big money there's more pressure from sellers and more desire to believe something is real. The stakes are higher,(If some TPA gets it wrong on say a fake sig on an 88 Donruss common it's a lot less damaging than getting it wrong on a Ruth ball)
With pressures of time and insistence mistakes get made. Maybe easier by some than others, maybe deliberately by some. What hurts us all, even the card guys is that to some degree we'll never know which scenario happened. And that hurts the credibility of everything.
I learn a bit from even the bickering -up to a point.
I think a major change in the way TPAs do things would help a lot. Make a cert hard enough to get that it means something. Take the time to actually get it right. In the case of my 3x5s that was about two minutes for the auctioneer. Expensive and/or tougher stuff should take longer. And the result would break down to tiers "sure enough that I'd actually guarantee it" " fairly sure" " not sure enough to make an opinion" " fairly sure it's fake" and "positive it's fake" And give detailed reasons on the cert. And hardly ever use the "sure enough I'd guarantee it" category.
Of course, that will never happen. It's not simple enough for most buyers who want good/bad, and many dealers would never go for it. The only way it could ever work is if someone with enough experience started doing it and was succesful. And anyone with that sort of ability is probably making more as a dealer.
Steve B
Steve B
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